the galah

what i'm saying is you have all these people with really good business qualifications running things already. Have a look at the profiles on the hrnz website.They are some very well qualified poeple if you want successful business people. so you;'ve already got the type of person youv'e described you want running things. So is the answer not obvious, other capabilities and knowledge are also required to run harness racing. Harness racing is an industry unique to itself.

tennis semi final effecting betting figures? why would that be anymore of a factor than any sport.Just can''t see why a tennis semi final would have more impact than any warriors game or any rugby or cricket on at the same time on friday nights. I did notice today on trackside the off course and on course presenters talked about tennis for the last minute and a half of pre race talk twice for races. Personally i had no idea why they would spend the most importnat part of lead in coverage talking about tennis.Apparently venus williams still has a powerful forehand.Great. I do know shes only won 1 singles game in the last 6 tournaments shes played,but obviously the forehand gets the presenters more interested than the races they are previewing.. as to the quaddies. Todays quaddie had a $1,400 carry forward and the final pool was actual money invested. was the addington one over $20,000,or was it just the amount guaranteed by the tab on friday. most of the races today had higher win tote pools than the main race at addington on friday night.

that race was a good tactical battle. dixon obviously had a pre race plan to put a bit of pressure on kingman on the bends. kingman didn't hang like last week but still not 100% on the bends and every time leap to fame put a little prssure on kingman ,mccarthy would have to give himea bit of rein as soon as they hit thestart of the straights and then he would take hold of him again and he slightly over raced for a bit ,so each time he used just a bit more energy. it only told in that last 100m and it was then that leap to fame pounced.Dixon drove a very clever tactical race. Swayzee ran well,but simply the first 2 dictated the speed which meant swayzee never got into the race.

the thing is brodie,the people on the hrnz are all very successful,well qualified and have been part of governance in other areas that has proven successful,same as mr steele and mr peden. They too have good qualifications. So the industry has the people with the qualifications you said are needed,yet most aren't happy with the decision making. i don't agree with who you think should be in charge. I believe thats where hrnz have gone wrong. i believe they need people with a better understanding of nz harness racing,those who have lived and breathed the sport and who have in the past risen to positions of governance and have shown the capabilities to be in leadership roles.

i have read lots of what you have written over the years. Cleary you have a deep undertsanding of the whole indutsry.Knowledge of the nz industry and knowledge and understanding of its history and the drivers of where it is at today,are vitally important. As to mr peden and mr steele . I think your above comments too easily make excuses for poor decuision making.From what i have seen,both peden and steele are intelligent men who can think for themselves,even if i don't agree with much of what they say.If they are following someones agenda,then thats their decision to do so,no need to say its someone else driving it.. what they lack,is what i said in my first paragraph of this post,and thats the essential knowledge needed to guide the industry going forward,in my opnion.peden and steele seem detached from the real nz people,its not there fault in a way,as thats not there background. as to mr mooney.I may well have a previous interaction with him where i wasn't impressed in his response,,but certainly i think his work on that handicapping committee which he chaired produced work that made an awful lot of common sense. I think he too has valuable knowledge to contribute, as long forms of a team of people where people with other backgrounds and knowledge,who don't allow him or anyone person to push self indulgant agendas.The prioritising of the overall good of the indutrsy as a whole must always be first,not certain sectors given greater importance than others. Everyone within the indutsry should be made to feel part of the same team.In particular Grass roots up is how any organisation needs to be focussed.

so mr steeles been here about 18 months and people are guessing he can't even answer his own questions and hasn't worked out hes being poorly advised.Gee,if that were the case,then harness racing really is screwed it that i the calibre of the perosn in charge.pPerosnally i give him much more credit than that,efven if i don't agree with him. As to the board being ill advised. do people think they're that stupid they can't work things out themselves. Well bugga me.

So you think mr steele can't answer his own questions. thats funny anyone would think that.. besides,those people have differenr styles.Both confident,but different.You should read more of their press releases. unless of course,if peden is answering steeles questions like you suggest,then maybe steele is answering pedens questioins,hence theres the answer. for their different styles. Sounds like you think mr peden sneaks in while mr steels out of town,sits in the bosses chair,feet up,smoking a cigar answering his mail.

i thinl we need throw mr cook into the mix for consideration on the hrnz board. Shouldn't the Hrnz board have people who live and breath harness racing like mr cook who also has administrative experience.. only thing mr cook,when gamma said the leading northern trainers were getting lazy as they didn't have many starters this week,i'm sure he was just meaning to take the piss,so to speak. As to gamma and mr steele always saying. they need big stakes to attract the best horses and thats why they over inflate the industries big races. we all know thats a load of rubbish and the proof has been i watching who lines up where. Its been the same for years. as i pointed out last year,the victorian cup had the best field in australiasia and it was the first time they had slashed the stake to $250,000. the sames going to happen this year.republican party's going to run against swayzee,kingman and leap to fame again. last night they had a $175,000 race and the best 3 ran again. Yeah,the mega ,mega rich who own the likes of leap to fame,swayzee,kingman. The difference between them coming to nz is primarily based on just how high the stake is.If it was,why do they never actuallyn say that. Have you ever heard one of those owners moan about the victorian stake being slashed last year. No,you haven't.But administrators here seem to think thats how they think,for unknown reasons.

you misjudge me gammalite. Nothing you say i ever take personally or get frustrated over. I think i may frustrate you with some of the opinions i express and personally think that occasionally shows in your replies. But i never think you have any intent to make it personal or offend me.Thats not you sunshine. i totally disagree with that. i think the opposite. And of course i would say that because i agree with the points he continues to make about the financial aspects of governance of the sport.

Gee,if thats holding your line then how dangerous is it to be a jockey. everyone sees things different i suppose. The last time i commented on a jockey riding in a manner that i thought was dangerous was a couple of minutes after i watched a race at cambridge a couple of years ago which turned out to involve a fatality. .Only difference was today the jockey had more intent to put his rival onto heels whereas the cambridge one was a terrible misjudgment. i thought it just good luck pinns riding didn't cause any injuries to the horse it was knocking around or the others that would have gone over the top had it fallen. Today there was slight outward movement by the horse racing a length in front and just to their inside,but i still can't see why any jockey would have so little regard for a fellow jockeys safety,even if they weren't happy about being pushed out. That horse that pinn knocked around was very lucky not to clip heels and fall.

and i forgot to add,i would get mr unhinged to have be involved in the marketing strategies,what content appears on the hrnz website and give him a place on the board as well.

You know you've said the same above thing many times and its getting a bit silly now. Never once have i said i want north island harness racing or auckland racing to close.I don't think i've read where anyone has ever even said they want that. when someone says a business needs to restructure and run their business in a way which consolidates their ability to continue to operate a viable,sustainable business,that does not mean they want that business to end. I would have thought it obvious its the opposite to how you always interpret it. and i've persnally never said i don't want cheap cambridge tuesay racing. Again,i've said the opposite,so many times.Since you've forgotten i will say it yet again. If they are to run cambridge meetings with such small fields they need to run them with lower stakes so they don't keep losing money on them. i have said cambrisge racing is boring,some of the driving is questionable,that the stipes oversight is below the standard seen in the south island,that the oversight of junior drivers by the stipes is particularly poor and inconsistent,that its not a good betting product mainlyn due to small fields and will turn people off betting on harness racing,But i've never saidi wanted them not not run the lower class meetings. again,what i have said is the stakes need reduced and those involved need to lift their game.. you didn't throw in i'm anti north island racing people like you often do. I suppose thats something this time. and by the way,i have advocated for a policy that means stakes paid to winning and placed connections are reduced from those programmed,with the level of stakes being based on a sliding scale depending on the number of runners. i have said this should apply in the whole of nz. and that rating penalties should be adjusted to reflect if a horse wins a race with a stkae reduced because of a small field.Thats just common sense to me although i realise it will never happen as it makes too much sense. anyways heres my thoughts on who should run hrnz. I would replace everyone on the board and move mr steele and mr peden on.and one of the handicappers as well. then i would put in greg o'conner in mr steeles job. And put people like ceemenow from the other channel on the board and also put the likes of mark jones and michael house into positions where they can influence decision making.I would take j mckinnon out of auckland and offer him a job where he focuses on canterbury and has no auckland input. I like the way hes fought for auckland all the way through.I would even offer to fly you over as the rep for the north island trainers and drivers as you would do your best to fight for their interests. Of course we would have brodie as a consultant as hes always on the money and get nowornever to fill in for brodie whens hes on his overseas trips. Then harness racing would prosper and get back on track.

after watching it a few times,i guessed maybe pinn has a very short fuse.. i have no idea,he may be a very happy chappy,just it appeared not so in that race. If you owned or trained the horse he rode,would you appreciate it being ridden like a demolition derby car?

is it just me,or do others think w pinn was trying to deck the horse inside it on purpose,simply because it pushed him a bit wider. and besides,i once heard j mcdonald say,when explaining a turnaround in a horses formthat getting into a bumping duel can take a lot out of your horse and that when you see horses do that,you can excuse them for not performing quite as well as you may expect. if j mcdoanld thinks that,what was w pinn doing. pinn obviously rode ina manner that negatively impacted his own chances as well as it looking dangerous..

the consistent message most are saying is simple over inflate stakes now and thats certain to result in cuts in stakes later. by advocating for stakes paid to reflect funding levels as most are, means people are advocating for policies that maintain stake levels. I'm not sure why you infer that means most are anti harness racing. this thread was about mr steele's ability to give an ambiguous answer combined with words that create the impression of positivity. pointing out hes good at that,well thats because he is good at that. mr steele is a person who is in charge of making decisions that can impact the industry both negatively or positively.So when he makes decisions and statements people think are going to negatively impact the industry ,in particular prioritising some sectors over others,people are going to reference him as the person who bears responsibility for his decisions. mr steele does have a job where he will be judged on his results,not on where he comes from or whether he remained positive or not. Positive thinking always is overtaken by reality in the end. Thats juts how life works. thats incorrect.i rejected the argument you made ,that racing is funded annually,like a govt department,with that funding having to be spent within that timeframe or it is lost.. I also rejected the argument you put forward that the nz govt help fund nz racing annually.My reply to your post was that may apply in australia,i don't know whether it does or not,but i suggested if you think thats what happens in nz,then that may expalin why you make some of your comments. you mention the unhinged man winning a $100,000 golden gait race. The auckland club,being over $80m in debt,apparently thought it a great idea to fund the bulk of those races worth $1m on that night from club funds and add it to their debt.And you thought that is a good thing.And you also refer to the cambridge club adding over $100,000 in debt one year to their substanial debt ,by running slot races,was also a wonderful thing....oh well,your consistent. at the end of the day,i think you and i have different ideas on the importnance of each sector. You certainly place most value on the high achievers. I place most value on the sectors that returns the most profitabilty to the industry as undermine them and you undermine the whole business structure . We both want to see the industry prosper,just disagree on how to achieve that.

You've often referred to the low stakes in australia and have often commented that you think when and if that happens here,its just the way it is and if it comes to be as a resultr of the current financial management and decision making by current hrnz leadership,then sobeit. having said that, you also seem to have a reacurring theme of your posts,that you either a)don't seem to believe current HRNZ leadership decisions in any way influence future stake money levels or b)think better to have high stakes now and low stakes in the future,than reasonable stakes both now and in the future. possibly a bit of both a and b What comes across from your posts is you place a lot of weight when judging mr steeles performance, on the current stake levels ,especially the high end ,and his support of the auckland trotting club. so, you think most on here are negative,depressed about nz harness racing,just constant knockers,etc. well fair enough,thats your take. all i would say ,from my own perpsective(knowing you consider me one of the most negative ones),is i have always put forward alternate ideas and visions for what i thought should be hrnz priorities and have always,in different posts given a vision of how they could be implemented.So you can say what you think about the likes ofm y posts,,but to me i am telling what i think are the truths while giving solutions.. you know,most on here belived that nz harness racing was thrown a lifeline by the injection of so much money from the entain deal and that should have ensured a viable,sustainable future.. So if people think that once in a lifetime chance to resztructure and create a workable vision for the future is being squandered,then i would say you are going to get a bit of negativity.

agreed.Things aren;t going to get any better for the average person in nz. thats why Mr steele said that when things pick up,that will be reflected in increased turnovers on racing.. Things aren't going to pick up,thats just wishful thinking.But mr steele had to say that ,as it was his way of putting a positive spin on figures which weren't as positve as he had hoped. mr steele has a mind set where he believes its in his and the industries best interests that positivity is the priority,seemingly viewing it of greater importance than reality. He may have done well in leadership positions in the past , where he has been part of decision making which has produced good results.However he will find out in 18 months or so,that strategy will eventually implode if things aren't going as well as he has said they are. You mentioned on another thread gamma about we may have a govt change in november.I always think the result of elections are always predictable enough.And i can't see any change of govt at the next election. That won't happen.People just don't trust labour after the adern goverment,like they once did,even given so many more are struggling with the cost of living these days.

i agree,i think a lot of people think that. I would also say matt peden will be gone as well . what i can't understand myself is the hrnz board. They seem happy with current policy.. if the finacial stabilty of the future of the industry is truly being eroded like many think,won't the hrnz board be judged very,very harshly. We will just have to wait andsee how it plays out. Its not that far away from being revealed. Also i think industry stakeholders can only blame themselves if things do take a turn for the worse. You can't help but note the big players and all the people in the media are continually selling the same positivity,all is well,everything is affordable,the industry is being well lead. But can you trust the media. I always use the example of mick guerin and the ATC. For several years,as the ATC finances collapsed,he ignored reporting on their true financial position,continuing to say that there was never a better time to get involved in northern harness racing,each year promoting there was never a better time for buying at north island sales ,always giving the impression auckland was doing well. For several years on here i started topics asking why guerin was silent and why he was selling a narrative that appeared misleading. So i won't be that long before its revealed whether current stakes and policies are sustainable and have been wise.Time will tell.

harnesslink haa an article regarding mr steeles answers to questions posed by b stewart an harnesslink. maybe its an annual thing. anyways,whenever i read what mr steele says,and this latest is another example,i have to admire his abilty to not answer questions,but in a way that still comes across as sounding positive. mr steele ability to word answers in the way he does, is quite skillful. for example, when asked if number of mares being bred the past season were up,he said .."a survey showed they were going in the right direction...conversations with studmasters were generally positive....we remain optimistic we will deliver on a much improved result on the prior year... I mean,a simple yes or no would have been better. Wouldn't hrnz have enough information by now to just give the numbers. personally i think he gave the answer in the final comment..optimistic for a better result than last year. My guess that means about the same or only just above last year,which of course had been a really bad year. anyways,that man sure knows how put a good spin on whatever he wants to.

i heard andy mccook yesterday commenting that its going to be a sad time in the next couple of months with others as relates to employment.One can only guess what he means but the comment was made after he wished rail the best.So he did say couple of months. The greyhounds still have 6 months to go. when greyhounds shut down,that will be a very sad and difficult time for the over 1000 people employed in that industry. I would be good if there could be greater transparency from the government,the greyhound industry and the likes of the spca as to what actually is going to happen to all the greyhounds.That surely is a story that media should be highlighting and bringing to the attention of the public. as to the commentators dropping in numbers. theres other excesses that you would think will impact harness racing coverage.I know friday lights thing is enjoyed by people and is very good,but if i was a cost cutter,i would be asking myself,why are we paying 2 people tio sit in the studio when obviously only 1 is needed. Thats nothing against o'connor or graham,they are both very good,but the pressure you would think will come on entain to cut costs to return as much as they can to the industry as the indudustry is clearly spending more than they should and will themselves be making cuts in the next couple of years you would think. That would be my guess for something that will happen in the next year or so.

The invercargill club would named the race,not hrnz. I think lots of clubs name races acknowledging peoples contributions. But yeah,many don't get the recognition they deserve.

i think it was hunterthepunter who said he thought brodie was the railway sleeper man.that was a few years ago now.I've never read brodie ever say he was,whether he is or not,who knows. either way,whoever brodie is,hes nearly always on the money.Hunterthe punter used to like guessing who people were. i think sometimes he was right,but often he was wrong,but he never stopped guessing.What did happen to hunterthepunter. Does he have another alias on here these days. One poster sounds like him. Who knows.

getting back to craig rail. taylor strong has reported craig rail will sign off as a southern caller after the gore gallops on sunday. "i will go back to see my mum and dad,north of melbourne and then decide what i will do'.."i love the job and have come in contact with a lot of lovely people" i looked at some old articles on rail,he started off race calling in queensland and lived there most of his life until harness racing victoria emplyed him full time to call just the victorian harness meetings ,which he did for 15 years.Apparently he had to travel long distances to call the victorian trots,but said he loved his job there. sounds like he may have moved here as southland seems to have been where his wife was from. His wife,tracey ,passed away in may 2023.She was a highly regarded member of the southland greyhound club and worked in the kennels and as a judge.I think her brothers were greyhound trainers in invercargill, anyways,it must be hard for anyone losing a job that they are still good at.Being a race caller,its not as if you can go down the road and apply for another job race calling.The life of a commentator can be full of highs,but obviously its a very competitive job and you can be tossed to the side when you become surplus to requirements. Why hasn't HRNZ acknowledged his contribution?. Surely they should have..Rail ,as are all commentators ,are high profile people within the industry. theres a bloke who has dedicated his life to harness racing and hrnz hasn't even thanked him for his service to the industry as yet. i wonder whats next for Rail.Obviously he doesn't sound like he knows what nor where he will choose to live yet.thats life,who really knows whats around the corner.

Maybe your on to something gamma. those blokes are all so wealthy ,they don't need to race at the regular auckland or cambridge meetings anymore. i only looked at the one stable,the b purdon/ phelan stable and they had 2 horses race at hawera on both days and those 4 starts were more starters than they had at all the auckland and cambridge meetings combined for the month of january. barry and scott are probably just about to step into the spa in the penthouse suite at the darling at the star, gold coast resort. probably meeting up with dean later to discuss how to win those big stake group 1 2 year old races.Win a couple more of those and that way they may be able to take not 1,but 2 months off. michael house,the lazy bugga,should have sent his team up to auckland to help out with the numbers. actually michael house probably has more starters at a 2 day manawatu meeting than all those blokes combined do for some months,if you take out the green/delaney stable. but there is a serious point that is tied up with what you say. the type of horses HRNZ are prioritising are trained by trainers who are udr focused and not hrnz are not prioritising the trainers whose horses have a high number of starts per year.. In fact,if you combined total number of starters of your favorite 3 trainers,purdon/phelan,m purdon/n purdon and a herlihy,you would see last year m house provided individually about 270 more starts last year, than your favorite 3 combined. You would wonder if one day it will dawn on hrnz ,that when they talk about increasing the average number of starts per horse, per year,that a significant factor in that is who the trainers of those horses are.In other words having policies that prioritise the horses trained by the trainers who don't start their horses often,at the expense of those that do,is blatantly obviously counter productive to their stated goal of more starts per horse per season. i'm absolutely certain that flies over the heads of the smart people at hrnz.Too logical for them to work it out.

If hrnz weren't delusionla like you say,they should already had planned for and be implementing a strategy that would have seen north isalnd harness racing prosper in years to come,albeit on a smaller scale. The crazy thing is,current policy by hrnz means they are burning through a lot of money,money needed to provide that viable pathway forward. So, since they are stuffing it up,they won't have the resources in the future to restrucuyre north island racing to the level it could have been. And the worst thing is the impact current and recent hrnz policy for the north island ,will have on the south island. It seems inevitable sout island will get dragged down as well. the apathy and short sightedness of industry stakeholders who seem happy to live in the moment and support hrnz or say nothing is strange.I assume its because the biggest voices are the ones hrnz continues to throw money at.The smaller voices simply have decided to implement their exit strategy or have decided,i'm older,they don't listen to what i have to say anyway,they will reap what they sow, but i won't be particpating when things come to the crunch.thats reality.look around,it is. meanwhile people like the punters who contribute to this site,like nowornever, will do what he has just seid,Turn ther back on such a poor betting product that auckland provide as the punting rewards from supporting that north isalnd product,simply isn't worth the effort.Again,thats another reality.